For a variety of reasons, the loss of human teeth and related bony support structures is often a very difficult experience. In addition to the functional problems that result from such loss, significant emotional and psychological stresses are associated with the concerns about physical appearance and the ability to live, eat, and smile as normal, that arise after tooth loss.
In an effort to address these issues, many people turn to dental reconstruction to replace teeth. One class of replacements uses dental implants as tooth root replacements in the jawbone, with crowns, which resemble teeth and gums, attached to the implants. The present invention relates to that class of replacements.
The primary considerations in dental reconstruction are function, comfort, strength, aesthetics, and hygiene. Unfortunately, in many cases compromises must be made to one or more of these considerations to accommodate another. For example, to ensure that the reconstruction does not create hygienic problems, the crown must often be made with a non-anatomical emergence profile. Simply stated, the crown may not have the shape of a natural tooth. As another example, hygiene and aesthetics may be compromised to ensure adequate strength, such as when multiple implants are required.
To illustrate some of the problems with some prior art systems, shown in FIG. 1 is a prior art implant 10 and crown 12, with implant 10 implanted in jawbone 14. In the example of FIG. 1, the jawbone 14 has been resorbed, due to the loss of the natural root of the tooth, and is thus receded in the area of the implant 10, as compared to its normal extension shown in the area of natural tooth 16.
For hygienic reasons, it would be inappropriate to build crown 12 with the shoulders 18 shown in dashed lines, and thus crown 12 fails to provide an anatomical emergence profile. And, this problem persists even if the jawbone is not resorbed, or is reconstructed to its original architecture, shown by dashed line 20. FIG. 1 also highlights an aesthetic limitation of the illustrated prior art: in many cases it is possible to see the some of the implant between the crown and the gum line.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a dental implant and method of dental reconstruction that reduce or eliminate these problems.